The present invention relates generally to solar cells, and more particularly to a protective liquid crystal coverslide for solar cells and solar cell arrays.
Solar cells can be damaged by too much radiation, particularly laser irradiation from a hostile source. The prior art has placed coverslides over solar cells to provide protection by filtering out damaging radiation. The prior art has also placed etched coverslides over solar cells to conceal, to an extent, the solar cells from hostile sources. This latter mode of protection has been proposed in connection with space-based solar cell arrays, particularly solar cell arrays intended for use as power sources for Space Defense Initiative satellites.
Unfortunately, prior art coverslides, particularly etched coverslides, block a significant portion of incoming usable sunlight, thus reducing the power available from the solar cells.
Thus it is seen that there is a need for solar cell coverslides that provide both protection and concealment for solar cells without significantly limiting their available power.
It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide solar cell coverslides that provide both protection and concealment for solar cells while permitting maximum transmission of incoming sunlight.
It is a feature and advantage of the present invention that it can be remotely controlled to switch on and off the transmission of sunlight to solar cells.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description of certain representative embodiments proceeds.